Daybreak
by A Martian's End
Summary: When the Kyuubi is freed from Obito's control, Obito knows how to make his vengeance excruciating. Naruto is taken from Kushina, and with no one available Minato is forced to seal the Kyuubi within himself. Tsuki Uchiha knows only of his father, Madara, and the group he leads. Yet that is all that's necessary, as he adopts his father's own goal. To complete project Tsuki no Me.
1. The First Dawn

Nighttime carried along with it darkness, comfort, and sleep. The ninja that populated the Elemental Nations found comfort in the darkness, carrying out their missions under it's cover. The people without an affinity for chakra, or those who weren't ninja, slept peacefully in their soft beds. Or at least most did. Yet for Konohagakure, on this eve, no citizen was at peace and no ninja were comfortable. Except for those that were dead.

The Kyuubi, most powerful of the Bijuu, was raining sheer destruction upon Konoha with seemingly nothing to stop it. The night was still young yet the death toll was already far too high for a ninja village. Already, there was almost as much loss for Konoha as when the First Great Shinobi War struck. A figure that the man standing before the monstrous creature had no intention of letting rise. Except, maybe, by one number.

The Yondaime Hokage, Minato Namikaze, winced at the force of the Kyuubi's roar. It didn't help his ears either, with him standing directly in front of the beast. He stood alone to face the brunt of this roar, all of his soldiers having been sent back when he'd arrived.

His breathing was laboured and his cerulean eyes half-lidded, the night had been one disaster after the next and he had exerted himself far too much, draining himself of most of his chakra. And to think it had started so well, Kushina had given birth to his baby boy and they were given the luxury of joy for all of five seconds before it spiraled out of control.

The only warning he'd received was that of the midwives bodies collapsing on the floor, if they'd still been alive they would've been drowning in their own pools of blood. The poor women never stood a chance against the masked man who claimed to be Madara Uchiha, Konoha's first missing nin. He'd already slain all the ANBU that had been positioned to guard the room where Kushina gave birth. Then the man did the unthinkable, holding Minato's newly born baby as a hostage to separate him from Kushina so that Madara could remove the Kyuubi from her.

And Kami damn him, it had worked.

Minato was grateful to whatever god was looking upon them that Kushina had survived the extraction and he'd taken her, along with Naruto, to a safehouse as Minato faced off against Madara. Fortunately he'd managed to drive off Madara after a short but fierce battle, though not before relinquishing the Sharingan wielder's control of the Kyuubi.

He'd sworn to himself not to shed tears over what had happened next.

He now stood facing the most powerful of all the tailed beasts, a being that was believed to be made of pure malice, hatred, and wrath. His shallow breathing felt erratic and forced, as if he was scared to breathe the same air as the Kyuubi, and he prepared himself for what he knew to be his final battle.

He just prayed that Kushina could forgive him for what he was about to do.

For what felt like hours he had debated what he would do with the Kyuubi, there was no way that he could kill the beast, as he'd heard that killing a Bijuu through conventional methods had no effect on them. They would just reform into their full power within a scant few years. He'd laughed without humour at the thought of resolving this peacefully, letting the monster leave as in turn it spared his village. Such ideas were an impossibility, unfortunately, when put into practice. He wouldn't even be a smear on the ground.

That left him with only one option, really. He had to reseal the Kyuubi. He downed a soldier pill to replenish his chakra, his third one for the night, knowing that the consequences that would normally cripple a shinobi wouldn't apply to him soon enough.

Mind determined and heart heavy, he launched himself at the Kyuubi, throwing a single three-pronged kunai at the beast. And with a single jutsu one kunai became a thousand as his Shuriken Kage Bunshin no Jutsu took effect. And when there were a thousand of Minato's kunai littering the battlefield, Minato was no longer limited to being in one place.

He'd show the Kyuubi why Iwa cowered in fear at the mention of "The Yellow Flash".

In a flash of brilliant gold he appeared on the face of the nine tailed demon, a Rasengan already formed, and slammed his second most famous jutsu into the eye of the fox. The demon's next roar was one of pain, and Minato quickly flashed away before the fox could regain its bearings and attack him. The fox's chakra surged outwards in a pulse that dislodged all of Minato's kunai from the Kyuubi's body. Eye bleeding, gaze furious, the full force of the Kyuubi's malicious intent focused onto the yellow bug that dared attempt to harm the mightiest of the bijuu.

Whilst the attack had elicited a great howl, Minato was all too aware of how useless his move had been in landing a critical blow on the Kyuubi. He dodged away from the fox's swipes and then the beast leapt up like one of his toad summons, and came down with enough force that the shockwave levelled most of the trees in the dense forest they fought in.

Minato had, of course, managed to flash away from what would have labelled him as 'The Yellow Pancake'. Yet he was unable to escape the sheer volume of debris that flew about after the fox's jump attack. Though his injuries were mostly minor, Minato's leg sustained a deep gash from a particularly sharp piece of timber. The injury, Minato knew, would mark the end of him before long if he didn't hurry with his plans to finish the fox.

Minato rushed his hands through signs, silently saying his goodbyes to his family, as he prepared what was undoubtedly his deadliest technique. He clapped his hands together and felt his chakra take shape as he shouted the name of his technique, "Shiki Fujin: Reaper Death Seal!" A spectre appeared behind him, floating, with purple skin, horns, and shaggy white hair. The being was draped in white cloth, and if Minato turned around to look into it's eyes he was was certain that his soul would flee in terror.

The Shinigami stood with Minato Namikaze, and they stood together against the Kyuubi.

Together they disappeared, replaced by a flash of yellow. They reappeared on the head of the Kyuubi, where Minato had placed the seal for his Hiraishin when he'd slammed the Rasengan into the eye of the beast. Minato commanded the Shinigami to take ahold of the Kyuubi's soul whilst the demon shook violently, trying to remove itself of the flea on its fur. The arms of the Shinigami pushed through Minato's abdomen and the Hokage shuddered as Death touched him.

The Kyuubi's struggling grew more destructive as it felt the hands of Death grab onto it's very essence. As the Shinigami tore what made the Kyuubi be out of it's body, Minato began the process of sealing the Kyuubi into himself. Against a god, the Kyuubi's struggles were uselessly in vain, the beast's fate was sealed inside of Minato. Minato felt his lifeforce slipping and hurried to finish the sealing process. With a shout of "Hakke Fuuin: Seal!" The Kyuubi's massive form swirled inside the newly made seal on the Yondaime Hokage's abdomen.

With the Kyuubi gone, Minato found himself falling from a great height, the barrier he'd placed around the battleground to prevent the fox's escape came crumbling down simultaneously.

In the destruction of the barrier, several figures rushed towards his descending form. Normally Minato would have been able to use his Hiraishin to teleport safely on the ground. "Normal" didn't really apply to him now, after he'd sealed the strongest Bijuu inside his gut.

And so it was that instead of a graceful landing through teleportation he was caught mid-air by his predecessor.

As they landed he weakly smiled at the old man whose strength belied his age, "The battle's over, Sarutobi-san. I got it… Sealed in my gut." That was all Minato made out before he burst in a coughing fit that tasted strangely like copper.

He stared listlessly as the man that groomed him to rise to the position of Hokage flapped his lips noiselessly. Minato could make out none of it; why was Hiruzen not talking? He watched on, disconnected, as several medical shinobi laid their glowing hands upon him. Useless. All their caring efforts were useless on one that cared no longer. He'd made his pact, sold his soul for the village's safety and he was content. He would pass away in peace and he would be remembered as the hero of the leaf. As his consciousness dissipated he felt content with his life, though that contentedness was joined by the stabbing sorrow of his failure. He hoped that they would notice the seal and burn his body, he wanted no trace of that monster's existence to linger on as a part of him.

It's a shame that destiny doesn't work like that.

Minato was a soulless corpse, yet he was not empty. What remained inside of him, what lingered on at the end of his existence, was chakra.

But the chakra wasn't his.

* * *

Hiruzen grieved at the loss of his successor, he had fought honourably against Konoha's enemies and had paid the ultimate sacrifice in conjunction with bringing down the Kyuubi. _I pray that your child grows to be as powerful as you so as to protect Konoha from harm, Minato. And know that I will guide him the whole way on his path to glory._ Hiruzen pledged to the dead Yondaime.

"Minato! Where is he? Where's my husband?" His grievance was cut short as yells erupted from a familiar high-pitched voice.

An exasperated female with lively red hair burst onto the scene, causing a ruckus among the medical shinobi who tried to stop the clearly agitated woman from reaching the bodies of their Hokages; none of them had known of the Yondaime having a wife, let alone being in a relationship with anyone, so this woman seemed clearly mad to them.

Hiruzen, sensing the distress of both parties, commanded the shinobi to stand down as Kushina rushed to her lover's side. He allowed her time to grieve over her loss; he could not imagine the emotional pain she would be going through, to have your husband die on the day you birth your child.

Kushina wept and shouted at the corpse, "Minato, you idiot! How could you- how could you do this to me? To us, everyone… You can't leave me alone!" she begged the corpse, hysteria colouring her tone.

Hiruzen knew to intervene, he'd seen far too many shinobi break to let Kushina continue uninterrupted. "Kushina, Minato gave his life for this village so that we could all live. He paid the ultimate sacrifice so he could protect those important to him, and that includes you. He won't come back, and that's the sad truth, but he would certainly not want for you to cling to the memory of him. He would have wanted for you to live on to protect this village, to protect your family. You have a child now that you need to care for and nurture, you can't do that if you stubbornly hang onto a ghost. You need to mourn your loss, yes, but do not become caught up in your self-pity. We need to look to the future now. That child of yours, he is your future now."

The Sandaime's impromptu speech seemed to wake something in Kushina as she froze momentarily, straightened her back, rubbed at her face with her wrist and turned to face the aged leader. Hiruzen saw an emotion he'd never thought to see there in her deep purple eyes. Despair. It was the only emotion that she portrayed and it seemed to encompass all of her existence; like a black hole, a void where no light could reach, despair controlled her every fiber. Certainly she tried to hide it, wiping her tears and straightening her back in an attempt at professionalism, but to Hiruzen's wise eyes he could see the truth. "Naruto," she croaked, clearing her throat before continuing, "Minato and I, we named him Naruto, we… I mean that, he… Naruto's gone."

 _Well… that explained the despair._ "Kushina, I am deeply sorry for your losses, I myself have lost too many precious people. My sensei, my friends…" _Biwako..._ "I am sure, however, that wherever your son is, he's in a better place." Hiruzen reached out to touch her shoulder in a comforting gesture.

Kushina snapped and twisted her body around to smack away the old man's outstretched appendage. "That's a Kami damn lie, dattebane! He's with that bastard Madara, the one who caused this whole fucked up mess…" her anger evaporated as she crouched down, head in hands and gently sobbed.

Hiruzen lowered his arm, still raised from having to signal the ANBU to not attack the Uzumaki woman when she'd lashed out. Confusion marred his brow as he looked down at the woman, "Kushina, could you possibly explain? You can't mean to say that your son was stolen from you and Minato, only very few people even knew about the event. And not one of them would've given out the information. And the only Madara that I can think of is the Uchiha who founded Konoha together with Hashirama Senju. But that was over a hundred years ago, so I don't see how that could possibly be him."

"It was him… It was him… It was him…" Kushina muttered to herself, not seeming to hear the old man's words.

Hiruzen sighed, knowing that he wouldn't be getting anything else out of Kushina until her mind had began to heal. He gently placed his hand on her head and forced a genjutsu to take place, increasing her drowsiness until she fell asleep.

He handed Kushina's unconscious form to an ANBU member with orders to take her to the Sarutobi compound that had been left thankfully untouched by the Kyuubi's violence. He would have to deal with her later, but for now she needed rest. After giving birth, and having the Kyuubi escape from her, it was a miracle that she still held onto life.

It was only after the ANBU member had disappeared that Hiruzen's attention fell onto Minato's moving corpse.

Hiruzen did a double-take as his successor began the painful process of standing up without any chakra in his body. But that wasn't true, Hiruzen realised, the only chakra that should be in Minato's body was… The Kyuubi's.

The dead Hokage's body went flying as Hiruzen's fist collided with it, eliciting a slew of curses from the dead man. "How dare you take control of him!" Hiruzen thundered, his face a storm.

The surrounding ninja could only watch in disbelief as their former Hokage fought with their dead Hokage, who was seemingly able to move and speak. As Minato's body landed, snarling in fury and glaring with eyes of crimson, one iryo-nin pieced it together.

"It's the Kyuubi!" The shout was enough to snap several of the ANBU into attention as they launched a volley of kunai and shuriken at the Kyuubi's vessel.

The weakened bijuu was unable to escape the barrage and ended up taking most of the projectiles, sending its human form collapsing onto the ground face-up.

Hiruzen's hands sped through signs and as he held the final sign, tora, he shouted, "Today marks the end of your existence Kyuubi! I'll make your final moments those of regret for ever attacking Konoha! Katon: Gōryūka no jutsu!"

The aged warrior released his breath through the hand-sign, creating a monstrous amount of fire in the shape of a dragon's head. The inferno rushed to incinerate the Kyuubi vessel's body, surely turning it into ashes to scatter in the wind, when Minato's mouth twisted into a smirk.

In a flash of brilliant gold, the dead Hokage vanished.

* * *

The rain poured down in a way that would be deafening had the inhabitants of the village it dropped onto not grown used to it long ago.

A cloaked man stepped out of a skyscraper's dry interior to stand on what appeared to be a balcony shaped as a stone mouth. Standing on the granite tongue he closed his eyes and allowed the rain to wash over him, causing his spiky orange hair to droop. Should he will it, he could stop this rain. For as long as his chakra would hold out anyways. Yet he simply stood there, absorbing the feelings that his real body longed to experience again.

His mind remained static, and his body unmoving as he once more attempted to infuse his chakra into each individual drop that flew down onto his village, hidden in the rain. He began to feel a connection, he'd almost linked-

"I come bearing news, Pein."

The voice of a man who had not been there infiltrated Pein's mind; bringing his focus out of the rain and behind him, to where the voice emanated from.

Pein's face, pierced in an intricate way, showed no emotion. Nothing was given away. The only signs of his acknowledgement was the opening of his eyes, purple from the iris to the sclera and patterned like ripples in a pond.

Pein turned to face the man that had spoken, phrasing his reply in the same motion, "You've just come from Konoha. Would the news be pertaining to the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki?"

As he faced the shadowed form, Pein frowned. He could see the ever-present light blue aura of chakra outlining the man's form, an ability that his eyes gifted him, and saw, where he believed the man's arms to be, a second aura. The shape was small enough to be a child's, yet the depth of the pools Pein perceived were deep enough to belong to a Jōnin.

Before Pein could continue with his thoughts, the newcomer answered Pein's question. "In a way, yes. The Jinchuuriki has been freed from her prisoner, however I was unable to capture the Kyuubi nor destroy Konoha. The Yondaime Hokage made himself a nuisance. But that matters not, for we will simply be able to take the Kitsune out of whomever Konoha chooses as its next host."

There was a lull in which the rain was the only sound present to the two as it continued pouring down onto Pein, who had not re-entered the building. Yet over the roar Pein could make out the soft breathing of the form held by the man. Eventually the bout of non-speaking came to an end as a new voice restarted the conversation, "And Madara, who is the child you hold?"

Pein's eyes drifted to his blue-haired companion, recognising the concern in her amber eyes. Pein knew that look was for the infant that Madara cradled, an action that was foreign to his understanding of the man.

Madara showed no signs of having heard, seemingly absorbed in watching the unidentified child in his arms sleep. Silence took hold of all three of them and when Pein saw Konan about to speak once more, Madara replied.

"This is my son."

Well. He certainly hadn't expected that. Madara had always seemed so focused on his objective, Pein hadn't thought the man willing, or even capable, to father a child.

Unaware, or more likely uncaring, of Pein's disbelief, Madara continued, "I will be raising and training him in order for him to join the Akatsuki, to further our goals. I already sense in him the potential to see our plans come to fruition. However, as you know, I am a busy man. I cannot stay in one place too long, and taking care of an infant constantly will put a serious hamper on our plans." Madara paused at this moment to finally pry his gaze away from the child's face, and the crimson glow emanating from his right eye was unmissable in the darkness of the room, "He will stay here, at our headquarters, whenever I am gone. There will be no discussion about this. You will assist in raising him in any way you possibly can. Do you understand me, _Pein_?" Madara seethed out the shadowed threat as his crimson stare intensified, glaring into Pein's own luminescent purple orbs.

"Understood." There was no hesitation in that single word, which seemed to satisfy Madara as with a slight nod he looked away from Pein and resumed staring at his child.

Pein was contemplating how exactly he would raise the child, it wasn't as though he had any experience with such matters, when Konan's words brought his attention outwards once more.

"And what's his name, Madara? What are we to call him?"

There was silence at that, with the red-eyed man giving no indication of having heard once more, filling Pein with an unease that generally accompanied Madara's presence. Pein wondered if that was how his associates felt whenever they spoke to him and made a mental note to reflect on that at a later date.

Madara looked up once more; eyes locking with Pein's for the second time that night, two more times than Pein was comfortable with, and spoke simply. "His name shall be Tsuki Rin Uchiha."

With those words spoken, Madara gestured for Pein to move closer. Without a word, Pein obeyed, only noticing how heavy the rain was when it stopped touching him as he stepped inside.

When Pein was at arm's length from Madara, the newly dubbed father spoke again, "As it so happens, I have business to attend to at this present date. I shall return within two months, but in that time I expect the child to get used to this place and understand that this is his home." As Madara placed the baby into Pein's arms Pein didn't bother to point out that the boy would have no concept of home, or have the mental capacity to become familiar with a place for that matter.

With a single nod, and the displacement of air as it seemed to swirl inwards on Madara's form, Madara left. The only trace of him having been there being the child in Pein's arms.

And there was quiet once again as it became Pein's turn to stare at the child in his arms. In the lowlight, Pein's eyes adjusted to be able to see the child's features. The boy was a deathly, almost unhealthy, pale that seemed fitting due to his name. He had a slightly round face with an unusual birthmark of three whiskers on each of his cheeks. Looking at the boy's scalp he could make out a full head of spiky hair, which seemed unusual due to the boy's look of being a newborn. His hair was a dusty blonde to Pein's eyes, with black streaks running from the roots to the end tips.

Suddenly the infant began to squirm, and Pein noticed that the rain he'd been soaked in had gone through the blanket that Tsuki was clothed in. In his discomfort, the child began to wake uttering a soft wail before opening his eyes.

Half-lidded eyes stared up into Pein's own and Pein's mind stopped momentarily as he processed the crimson light emanating from the eyes of Madara's son. And then Tsuki blinked and they were replaced by a dark, almost navy, blue hue that proceeded to gain awareness of their surroundings whilst continuing to stare at the leader of the Akatsuki with the kind of curiosity that could only belong to a child.

The shock began to recede and Pein understood that he must bring the child up to share the Akatsuki's ideals. Because the child of Madara Uchiha that possessed a Sharingan as a newborn infant had the potential to be stronger than all of them. And as Konan took the child from his arms to attempt to soothe his cries, Pein had more confidence than ever that the Shinobi world would finally know true peace. And he, along with Tsuki Uchiha, would see that it happened.


	2. The Second Dawn

His first feelings concerning the child had been casual disinterest coupled with irritation, he'd signed up for a mercenary organisation not a Kami damn daycare. His second feeling was annoyance at being told that he'd have to look after the brat whilst he managed their group's finances. Now he just wanted to tear the kid's head off as the child sat in his lap and stuck his chubby fingers through the man's stitches with innocent glee.

The only thing stopping him from butchering the boy in a fit of rage was Pein's promise of a slow death if he did such. He may have only been in Akatsuki for a short while, yet he knew that the man was not to be angered. So he grit his teeth and bore the uncomfortable ticklish feeling that came from his stitches as the child in his lap stuck its fingers through the seams of his arm. At least Pein had gotten him a comfortable chair to work on. Which he'd then had to add to the organisation's expenses as it had cost almost as much as an A-ranked ninja's bounty.

"Sti'hes!" Well, that was really the only thing that made his predicament somewhat interesting. The child was abnormal, able to form words that he should have no knowledge of even if his young mouth couldn't pronounce them properly. The child also seemed to have a greater comprehension than should be feasible for his age, alongside knowing words that an infant should have no understanding of.

"Stitches." Kakuzu's gruff voice corrected.

The boy's dark blue eyes gazed up at him then closed with the force of his smile as he spoke, "Stitches!"

Kakuzu scoffed, _Smart little fucker._ He had no idea why the boy was even here, or what plans Pein had for him; but considering how often Konan had come to check on the brat in the first month to make sure Kakuzu hadn't killed him yet, the kid would be staying with their ragtag group for some time.

He'd been looking after the child for nearly two months now yet he still could not fathom why Pein had handed the child to him. He was known for being 'a real dick' as his former partner used to say. If their plan was to have him mellow because of some semi-intelligent child they would realise how mistaken they were. _It's not like they can expect me to bond with the kid. It's a fucking baby_. Yet, since he was under house arrest for killing his partner, there wasn't much else for him to do except sit with the child and make sure the idiot was saying his words right.

He supposed that, despite his tendency for violence, he _was_ the safer option for the role of babysitter, as opposed to the other member that lived in The Tower. He certainly wouldn't trust a child with that Suna ninja.

He was pulled from his musings by a wailing coming from his lap. The brat was crying. Scratch that, the fucker was screaming. Something that had happened many times while the brat was under his care, yet he still had no idea how to deal with it.

 _Kami damn it, why has no one told me what to do in this situation?_ "Shut up!" Kakuzu roared in a vain attempt to quieten the child through fear. As the screaming continued and Kakuzu's rage built, he lifted the infant from his lap and held him so that their faces were parallel, "What is wrong with you, brat?" he shouted.

It was then that Kakuzu noticed red drops of liquid dripping from the child's forefinger, looking down at his desk he perceived the matching colour on the corner of the paper Kakuzu had been just finished writing on.

"Are you fucking serious?" Kakuzu's gruff voice grew harsher as his narrowed eyes stared into the child's closed ones. With a grunt of annoyance, he took hold of the boy's hand and inspected the wound. _It's just a Kami damn papercut._ His teeth felt like they would break from the force that he was pushing them with. This was why he hated children. They get all worked up over nothing.

"Hold still, brat." he managed to force the strained words through his teeth as he held his index finger up to the child's injury. A singular black thread weaved its way out of his body through his finger and sealed the wound instantly, disconnecting itself from Kakuzu's body. _Finally, crisis averted. Again._

The child gazed at the thin black line, zigzagging across the small surface of it's finger. In its inspection, it looked back and forth between its 'injury' and Kakuzu. Finally, the child's eyes stayed on the man as its face twisted into one of innocent joy, "Like 'akuzu!" the boy proclaimed, holding its finger up for the older man to see.

Kakuzu stared at the boy, seemingly trying to decide how to react. Until he allowed a single snort of amusement to escape him. "I told you, it's Kakuzu brat. Remember it." There was no response and so Kakuzu went back to his work, the child sitting on his knee entertaining itself in any way it could.

* * *

Darkness blanketed the city under the rain. The day's ever-present grey clouds had been converted, from the illuminating pinks at sunset, to the blackness that covered all. Still, Kakuzu sat in his office. Managing the finances of this new organisation he was apart of. It might have been strange for anyone else, to be placed into such an important role especially considering he'd essentially been forced into the group. However it seemed only fitting for him. After all, nobody knew money like Kakuzu.

He was thankful to finally be in virtual solitude, as the excitable infant that had taken up residence on his lap had fallen asleep. Eyes closed and snoring lightly, it contrasted Kakuzu's aggressive image. But Kakuzu cared not, you didn't live as long as he had by being concerned about the trivialities of appearance.

As he placed down his final piece of paperwork, the papers stacked up next to his desk began to rustle. His narrowed eyes focused on the disruption to his quiet as the sheets burst out of the pile, as though a cyclone was being drawn into existence. The expanded form then contracted into a humanoid shape as colour filled the pages, rising from the floor. A black darker than night overrode the white, and crimson clouds took shape across the blackness; like an inverted sky. This was the Akatsuki's uniform. A black cloak with red clouds. The person attached to this cloak had hair the shade of the ocean, a sombre reflection of the sky. The woman's amber eyes stared coolly into Kakuzu's own. With the kind of calm pissed Kakuzu off, acting as though she had entered through normal means and not via paper cyclone.

"I'll be taking Tsuki now." The voice was smooth and effeminate, spoken without emphasis; a sense of detachment permeating each syllable.

"Tch, it's about damn time Konan." Kakuzu spoke while standing up, child in arm, "If it's not bad enough that I have to babysit this thing during the day I was beginning to think I'd need to take care of your child during the night as well."

Konan's brow furrowed slightly as she fixed Kakuzu with a pointed look, "Tsuki is not my child."

Kakuzu snorted, "Alright, then whose is he?" Silence followed this inquiry, "That's what I thought. Doesn't matter though, I don't want to have to look after that brat any longer than I have to."

"Pein has understood your grievances concerning this, and for your efforts these past months he's allowing you to return to fund-gathering missions." Behind his mask Kakuzu smirked as handed the child over to Konan, "However you shall be without a partner for the time being, since we still need to find a replacement for your previous one."

Kakuzu shrugged, rolling his shoulders to try and remove some of the stiffness from sitting down all day. "That's fine by me, I work best alone. And it's not like you'll be able to find someone that could last with me."

Silence descended upon them, as Konan's amber eyes fixated upon the sleeping child in her arms; the resting form nestling deeper into the comfort provided by the soft cloak. Kakuzu grunted, unimpressed, and turned to leave. As he opened the door though, he paused, glancing back for a moment before exiting towards his quarters.

Konan stood in the quiet, as her ears unintentionally focused on the child's rhythmic breaths, she allowed her mind to wander. It had been an unspoken decision between her and Pein that she should care for the child during the nights. After all, as much as she believed in the infallibility of the Rinnegan wielder, she didn't really believe those cold bodies could look after a child. Tsuki had been under her night since day one. And as unusual as caring for the child was, it had seemed strangely… natural. As she dissolved into paper, which reformed into a neat pile she felt a pang of nervousness at the imminent return of Madara. She doubted that the man would treat his son any different than anyone else. As a tool, fine while it's useful and disposable once its purpose has dissipated.

Could she really stand by and allow the man to do that to a child?

Could she really do anything to stop him?

That final question consumed Konan's thoughts as she made her way to her own room in the skyscraper. She had kept a minimalistic approach to her living quarters. With a simple desk for any writing, small bookshelf, and a bed. She had felt no desires to spend money on much else since she first began living in the tower. The only addition since her first purchases was the baby crib that sat beside her own bed.

She lay Tsuki upon the grey sheets of his cot, the moment she let go of the child it began to squirm, feeling the loss of comfort that came with human contact. But when she swathed the child in blankets it's movement ceased as it fell deep into slumber. She was lucky the child had fallen asleep with Kakuzu, it was rarely so easy to coax the child to sleep.

As she thought about the man the words he'd said stood out in her mind, regarding whom the mother of Tsuki was. Everybody came from someone, but from whom did Tsuki come from? Had his mother died birthing Tsuki? What had the mother of his son meant to Madara? Was it a coincidence that Madara had unleashed the Kyuubi on Konoha the night his son was born? The further Konan delved into these lines of thinking her questions became hydra-like, with each question asked two more appeared to take its place.

Realising she was going nowhere in regards to figuring out any form of an answer by simply brooding over the queries, she instead lay down on her bed. On her side, she stared at the peacefully sleeping Tsuki, who was blissfully unaware of the troubling questions he created. Though she had resigned herself to not receiving answers to her questions she couldn't stop her mind from inquiring nevertheless.

The child had a full head of hair, not unheard of for an infant but unusual nevertheless. What was strange about his hair, especially considering his lineage, was the colour. Blonde wasn't a very common hair colour outside of Kumo and even then Tsuki's variation, a golden sun-kissed blonde, wouldn't be found naturally within the country. The black highlights, natural from what she could gather, were incredibly unusual though no doubt from his father. So his mother must have been a blonde; but from _where?_ Maybe a Yamanaka's child? Not entirely out of the question, taking into account Madara's home village, but it was not likely as the Madara she'd read of had a vehement hatred for all things Konoha.

Konan closed her eyes in frustration, a mild headache throbbing lightly beneath her temples as no answer made itself apparent. She rolled onto her back and looked up into the dull grey of the ceiling, at the familiar crack in the roof that she slipped through in her paper form, and she took up the task of actively doing nothing and simply listened to the rainfall outside the tower. It was still the same roof, still the same rain, yet she felt like too many important things were changing too quickly and only the monotonous remained frustratingly static.

She closed her eyes once again.

Were the changes for better? Or for worse?

* * *

Everything was silent. Since he'd opened his eyes he could feel the distinct lack of all of his senses. Except for his sight. He was a witness to the world around him, though it was as if he saw through a filter, with all things tinged by a slight blur.

The lack of his other senses, coupled with his loss of control over his movements, created a disconnect to this scene; he had no ability to turn away from it though, to avert his focus, and so he watched on.

The sky was a piercingly bright blue, unlike anything he'd seen before. The clouds were so very different from the turbulent grey he was used to, and instead drifted on lazily in their whiteness. It was a familiar scene, though not one he'd ever seen in his short lifetime, surrounded by forestry he moved in strange ways that lacked depth without his other senses to make up for what his eyes could not see. Without warning the view spiralled downwards, as the body he saw from sprawled onto the ground to look up at a person.

The only feature he could make out through the blur over his vision was the person's black hair. They stood above his eyeline, hunched over and with their hands clutching their stomach, shuddering. Their mouth seemed to be open and turned upwards as their eyes closed from the force of this facial effort.

Suddenly his eyeline rose to meet this newcomers, as arms rose from his sides to push the person gently. At this acknowledgement a word entered his mind that he knew identified a part of the person before him. Girl. He had no recognition of the meaning of such a word but he knew it fit.

The girl rose her hand to her face to wipe from under their eye. As her eyes opened and locked with his, his vision faded to black.

In the darkness his senses began to return. The first that drew him to the present was touch. He could feel the warm, soft comfort of a familiar something draped around him, bound up tight enough where it was difficult to move, but not so tight that it was uncomfortable.

Next returned his hearing, as he could hear the sounds of rain hammering down above his dwelling. After this returned taste, as he could taste the dry interior of his open mouth. Then his sense of smell reappeared and he could smell the faint scents of the rain, the soft smell that emanated from the thing wrapped around him, and something sweet to his left.

Then, he opened his eyes, and his sight returned in full. Unlike his dream; there was no film to obscure his sight, but as he blinked away the bleariness of sleep he could make out his surroundings in sharp clarity. He recognised the surface above him, with the sharp line that spidered across it. As his head moved about and he took in the same familiar sights, he recognised the darkness, bleeding into light, that came with the sunrise. Looking to the left he saw a blue-haired girl, now knowing this word and knowing it applied to the person who was there, who he saw every time he awoke. He continued to look around in silence for several moments until the slight movement of the girl to his left drew his attention back to her.

Her eyes shone as she stared into his own eyes. _Amber._ A voice whispered into his ear, granting him the word that applied to her eyes. Her lips curved upwards slightly as she regarded him, "Good morning Tsuki."

He gave no response as the words elicited no recognition in his brain. She seemed to pay it no mind however, as she stood up and walked into another room. He was left alone with the rain once more as began to move his body around, in a vain attempt to release the hold of the thing wrapped around him.

The girl re-entered, wearing a black cloak and looking more alert than before. As she freed him from the bonds of where he slept and lifted him up, a new voice entered into his conscience.

"Konan, Madara has returned for the boy. In the outlook." As his eyes took note of the speaker's long orange hair and purple eyes, unable to make anything else out as the rest of the person's face was covered by a cloak, he felt a moment of stiffness from the girl that held him.

"Very well, we'll be there." she replied, and the person disappeared. His eyes drifted up to the face of the girl carrying him, and his eyes met hers as she looked at him, with an unfamiliar expression on her face.

Then, her face changed. "I don't believe you can understand me but if I don't say this I feel like I'll just be giving consent to that man, letting him do whatever he wants with you. I will not allow Madara to control you, to make you a tool in his collection or a pawn in his plans. I will look after you, no matter what, and ensure your safety even in this dangerous world you've been placed in. But, knowing the dangers of this world, I will make sure you're strong enough to protect yourself should I fail. I swear upon this." She looked at him with those intense amber eyes, and within him spawned a new emotion. Security.

She turned her face from him and began to walk. They passed through grey corridors until they arrived at the place so vivid in his memories though he'd only seen it for a moment. This was where he had first met the girl and the purple-eyed man, who was currently standing in silence with someone else. Standing there now was a man who he could vaguely recall. He wore a black cloak, and had short spiky black hair. What was strange about him though was his face. It was orange with black shapes all over it, and a single hole over his left eye.

Sound emanated from the man, "Ah, good, he's here." He was right against him. The girl handed him to the man before standing back, "I'll be taking him with me for a few weeks until I need him to be here again whilst I take care of business. This will have to be the pattern we follow for the next several years, until I tidy up enough loose ends to take him for more extended periods of time." The man's voice was deep and enrapturing. Though he couldn't understand most of the words spoken, he felt himself being drawn in to his every word.

"Well then, that'll be all. Pein, keep your networks open and looking for more potential recruits" As the man finished speaking, he felt the strange sensation of his body being pulled inwards, swirling around without him moving. And when it stopped he was in an entirely different place.

Surrounded by trees, the land was totally new from anywhere he felt the creepings of fright until he was turned around. As he looked up into the face of the orange-faced man, he proceeded to remove his face. The man's face was young yet worn, with damaged skin on the right side of his face. His gaze locked onto the man's singular red left eye, with black dots circling it slowly. Suddenly his vision took on a new clarity as the man spoke, and he knew he would remember this face forever. "Hello Tsuki. I am your father. Madara Uchiha."

* * *

Hiruzen sighed into his hands, fingers bridged beneath his nose. It felt like the thousandth time he'd done so since being forced to retake his old position as the Hokage. A position that he should no longer have to hold.

He was taking an uncommon break from his duties, which had seen a massive lift due to the Kyuubi's attack. Normally he wouldn't break in these dire times but he could feel his age creeping up on him, necessitating rest.

As he sat in his office chair he stared out the window and to the Hokage monument, which had been saved from destruction by Minato. As he stared at his deceased successor's stone face his thoughts went to the flesh-and-blood Minato.

The one that was being controlled by the Kyuubi.

Hiruzen had been puzzling over the process in which the Bijuu had managed to gain possession over Minato's body from the grave, as what he thought he knew of the reaper death seal implied that both Minato's and the Kyuubi's souls should be in the Shinigami's stomach. Yet somehow the demon fox had survived.

There must be variables that the fox contained that he was not privy to, which wasn't unlikely, as even though the fox had been present in the village since the time of the Shodai, it hadn't really been studied thoroughly.

It didn't matter exactly how the fox had managed to survive the death sealing, just that it had. But this brought up the question, how did the Kyuubi escape its bonds in the first place, requiring its sealing.

Unfortunately, the one person that could have answered that question for him was in the psych ward.

Kushina had been placed on total watch after the traumatising loss of her son and husband in the same night. Hiruzen had faith that she would recover with time, but unfortunately until that time had passed she was near-catatonic. Yet she had given Hiruzen one important name, on the night of the attack.

Uchiha Madara. That's who Kushina had apparently identified as the one that both released the Kyuubi and, if in her sensitive state she was to be believed, stole her child Naruto as well. Which may have been the truth, as when he sent a few of his limited forces to scour the place where Kushina gave birth as well as Minato's home they turned up no traces of a child's body. He'd seemingly vanished.

 _So, considering that was true._ Hiruzen contemplated what had been brought to her attention, _Then it follows that 'Madara' really did free the Kyuubi. Possibly placing it under his control using the Sharingan if it truly was an Uchiha._ He was not fully convinced that it was the legendary Madara that was responsible, after all the man had perished in battle over half a century ago.

So that begged the question, who was it truly? As much as he loathed to do so, his thoughts turned to the Uchiha clan who as a whole had been absent from the defense of the village, with the clan head Fugaku stating that they had been busy ensuring the safety of their civilian clan members, and by the time they were done the battle had been brought to a close. It was unfortunately suspicious for such an important clan of the village.

Hiruzen picked up his pipe resting beside him and leaned back in his chair as he lit it. There was only so much he could figure out through speculation alone. And unfortunately it couldn't be his top priority at the moment. Rather, he was too busy trying to project to the rest of the shinobi world that Konoha's will of fire was as strong as ever. After all it wouldn't do them any good if Iwa came attacking looking for revenge at the news of their deceased nemesis.

He was interrupted from his musings by a knock on the door. "Enter." He intoned, and was surprised at how withered his voice was. Though it wasn't obvious to the average person, Hiruzen could hear the tiredness emitting from him in that single word.

A solitary Chuunin entered his office, maintaining a respectful gait though their face betrayed hints of urgency. "Apologies for the intrusion Hokage-sama, but I've been sent to inform you the Kushina Uzumaki has requested your presence."


End file.
